when the soul is touched... i thank LIFE

the first day of the year... my birthday too...
am fortunate enough to be part of a small, well-knit group of colleagues who make life better, more worthy of living and cherishing...
that is the BIG picture, as one cliche would put it.
but i am grateful for that... but that is not the point of the post...
we had a small, simple New Year celebration in office, which was also a birthday celebration for me and my colleague N and today's post is wholly dedicated to her...
i have mentioned her in one of my earlier posts, but just in passing...
she is our office Mom, who takes care of us, literally... she carts food from home regularly so that we are not hungry. she takes care of all the parties we keep having, from planning to executing it, with the same degree of warmth and personal touch as she runs her own home. she cannot say NO, even when it deserves a loud, clear one. she is unspoilt in this day and age when people think only about their own benefit. and she does all of this with a broad smile that is not put on... it comes genuinely from within. this is again the BIG picture about N which everyone who knows her in the office, knows...
what i discovered today, is something beyond words...
N and A (her hubby) have gifted me on my birthday a framed family pic which we took at Paris... A took time and effort to edit it and gave it the background of Invalides garden, though it was shot at the entrance to Napoleon's tomb...
and when i called A to thank him, he merely stated, "N wanted to surprise you..."
some people are just made differently...
thank you LIFE for giving me these moments which bring a lump inside my throat...